SANTANA IV to be Released Soon

Event City just received the announcement that Carlos Santana along with some of his Bandmates from his early 70’s lineup, Neal Schon, Gregg Rolie, Michael Shrieve & Michael Carabello will release a new collaboration soon. The rumors are true and while there are many of you who have long since admired the original talent and music of the Santana and Journey bands, to bring them together once again will be a historic treat for all of us, and quite a concert experience indeed.

April 15, 2016 marks the release date of SantanaIV, the wildly anticipated studio album, a reunion recording bringing together an album project for the first time in 45 years – since 1971, the multi-platinum classic Santana III. This is an incredible feat, especially in our modern day Music Industry, and the longest span of time that an original act has come together with its core band members to record a follow up album. This is the original quintet that recorded together, that incredible early lineup from the 1970’s of guitar icon Carlos Santana(guitar, vocals), Gregg Rolie (keyboards, lead vocals), Neal Schon (guitar, vocals), Michael Carabello(percussion) and Michael Shrieve (drums).

The newly formed band plans to celebrate their new release by planning some concerts with the current Santana band and the current Journey line up! We certainly do not want to miss this!

Stay tuned to the Event City Creative Magazine, we will keep you posted on all of the Santana IV release and news on the bands exciting shows and who else might show up to grace the stage with these legends.

Event City is the Community Portal for the Events, Hospitality (Food & Beverage), Entertainment & Music industries. Currently in Launch mode, the project changes weekly, the portal changes daily and the community is dynamic. Musicians, Performers, Songwriters, Event Producers, Meeting Managers, Show & Concert Promoters, Film Producers, Entertainers, Actors, Models, Caterers, Chefs, Restaurants, Nightclubs, Hotels, Food Purveyors, Venues, and all industry suppliers are invited to participate and Sign Up for our FREE Live Launch VIP Invitation. We hope to see there and be part of your success in whoever you want to be.

The rock’n’roll group Journey and other Music Industry entities have donated more than $350K to the Philippines Disaster Relief in an effort to directly provide help for the recovery efforts. Lead singer of the group, Arnel Pineda, is Filipino and is taking charge in the recovery efforts to help his country any way he can. Read the article appearing in Classic Rock Magazine. Kudos to Journey for stepping up and playing a vital role in these efforts to support their Bandmate Arnel and the Philippines!

Let’s Play™ is a featured channel to debut in Q1 2014 on the Event City Network™ during the company’s Live Launch. It will allow Bands, Musicians and Performers to showcase their talents on Event City™ and other areas within the Event City family of websites. It will give all members of Event City the opportunity to see the great talent available through our Events & Creative Community Portal.

Here’s a sample of what Let’s Play is all about – a video and song written by San Francisco Songwriter, Jimi Shawndi, for MILES, the BATKID who stole the hearts of the world when Make-A-Wish Foundation asked him what he wished for, Miles replied, “I want to be Batman for a day”. So BatKid was born and transposed San Francisco into Gotham City! Take a listen to “IF I COULD FLY” Song for Miles and let us know what you think of this local musician’s work. Maybe it will be your song featured by Event City on Let’s Play!

To have your music and videos showcased in our pre-launch and to be included in this future project please send your request to our Music Channel Beta.

The Premier “Razzle Dazzle” Presented by Event City andBroadway Studios

This event is a Showcase and Mini-Expo for the Events & Creative Industries. These industries and their vertical markets will all be represented by the Event City Network as they prepare for their Live Launch.

Country Blues Revue Scores Big With Blues For Too Long

Blues listeners will find themselves drawn to a newly released recording Blues For Too Long by Country Blues Revue for a number of reasons. We hear in Blues For Too Long the intimacy of blues: its hard, angry feelings, its jubilations, its regrets, its busting out laughing over nothing particular . . . the whole gamut of emotions that makes the blues a long-beloved musical form.

For instance, there’s the tight shuffle rhythm of “Hey Baby,” written and sung by co-leader Michael Handler, and reminiscent of Stax Records in its hey-day. Yet, Country Blues Revue, from Santa Fe, NM, pays homage to a primal blues style, the great incubator of the modern blues styles of Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and B. B. King that followed country blues.

The recording includes covers of M. Travis’s “Cannonball Rag” and W. Brown’s “Mississippi Blues.” There’s a country feel to “Love Flows Round My Heart” by Marc Malin, Country Blues Revue’s other lead vocalist and guitarist. Malin contributes six original songs, one of which is co-written. His “Jasmine and Gold” evokes country blues’s classic images: “Way down on the Mississippi where the air is thick and slow. Well, I can hear my baby calling, but I just can’t seem to go . . . she goes to my head just like cherry wine.” Malin and Handler set up the song with several instrumental choruses before the vocals start; this was a wise choice. The introduction emotes a nice-and-easy feeling that’s unhurried, just like all good country blues does.

Handler and Malin began Country Blues Revue as a duo and have added support musicians who are quiet capable of setting up the grove for the two vocalists. In addition to singing and performing guitar, Handler plays blues harmonica, his choice instrument since the mid-1960’s. There are obvious influences from country blues forefathers who come to mind listening to Blues For Too Long: Robert Johnson, Reverend Gary Davis, Son House, and Blind Blake. “Cannon Ball Rag” features Malin’s adept finger picking and a walking bass line on guitar that blends nicely with sideman Vin Kelly’s mandolin work. Blues For Too Long excels because the musicians are all willing to share the limelight. It’s clearly a group effort, and the ensemble supports each member as they take chances in their solos. An interesting arrangement of “Love is Blind,” another Malin composition, presents a seldom heard harmonic device in the blues. The lyric laments, “Love is blind, and that’s a damn good thing . . . . If love wasn’t blind, I couldn’t see a thing.” In three-part harmony, the band’s vocalists sing “I . . . I . . . I” adding an intriguing tension to the song which the quip line pays off with: “I couldn’t see a thing.” Here, Country Blues Revue milks a blues technique of tension and release to the hilt and delivers drama the master country blues musicians from long ago created so well.

The joyful vibe of “Funny Feeling” features Cozy Ralston drumming a Charleston rhythm along with Larry Diaz’s bass setting up the groove on Handler’s song. What’s the inspiration for “Funny Feeling”? “Man, I think I was on a long drive, and I pulled over to write this song at a diner,” Handler recalls. “It is not based on fact as far as I know.” Again, winning backing vocals echo Handler who’s singing lead. Here, the band really stretches out. Throughout Blues For Too Long, Handler has matured as a blues harp soloist compared to his previous recordings. He’s tighter on the groove and matches the other soloists and vocalists superbly in the emotions they evoke. “My momma got a chicken,” Michael intones in a whimsical image, “she thought it was a duck, she put it in the oven with the legs all straight up. I know she’s got that funny feeling.”

Malin’s title song “Blues For Too Long” starts off with a reminiscent feeling accompanied by Handler’s plaintive and wistful harmonica playing. The song refers to the harmonic structures of Willie Nelson’s “Nightlife” and Ray Charles’s “Hard Times.” “When you first . . . said goodbye, I was alone, I couldn’t understand why. Even in my heart, I knew was wrong . . . . I’ve had those blues for too long.” Kudos goes to vocalist Stephanie Hatfield who makes a cameo appearance with some spirited vocals.

What’s a blues recording without a good traveling song? Country Blues Revue delivers one with “Goin’ to Taos,” another Handler original where the band reveals its harder, rocking side. It’s “mostly a true story,” Handler says, “A date that went bad, then driving back to Santa Fe from Taos, and a story about a storm on the high road . . . . Folks love it, a real dance tune.” A blues tune inspired by jilted romance? Let’s alert the media on the big news!

“Now baby, don’t turn that love lamp low . . . . Cause I’m heading down the highway baby, to Taos, New Mexico.” “Taos” features Malin’s tasty country guitar licks. A New Yorker, Malin spent many years in the Boston and Cambridge, MA, areas teaching country and finger-picking guitar. He’s played the blues for 35 years and is the lead guitar player for Santa Fe’s the Rattlerz in addition to the County Blues Revue. A “Taos” highlight is the versatile Vin Kelly’s lyrical fiddle playing. In the stop-time chorus, Handler shouts: “There’s thunder on the left of me, lightning on the right, you know I’ll be lucky if I make it home tonight!” It makes you want to hit the road too, jack! Handler seems fond of Taos, Santa Fe, and the Southwest he now calls home, as opposed to his former city Oakland, CA, with its hard street life: “violence, rape, and murder everywhere,” he laments in “Taos.” Since relocating to Santa Fe about five years ago, Handler has played with Michael Hearne, the HooDoos, Joe West, The Three Faces of Jazz, Felix y Los Gatos, Magdalena’s Dream and the Rattlerz, and has recorded with Bill Hearne and Bethleham and Eggs.

Handler points out, “The ‘live feel’ we were after comes courtesy of a great engineer we had in Bill Palmer at Santa Fe’s Frogville Records, and his wife Stephanie Hatfield sang great and added SOOOO much to the title track ‘Blues For Too Long.’ I can’t thank them enough.” The live feel gives Blues For Too Long an immediacy that’s sustained throughout and allows for enjoyment of repeated listening. Listen for a surprise, as the band breaks into a jubilant cadence breaking from the slower nostalgic groove of “Blues For Too Long.”

Asked why he plays the blues, “How can I not?” Handler responds. “It’s all about inspiration that’s either there or it’s not . . . . Anyway, I learned finger-picking guitar years ago. Jerry Garcia was one of my teachers, so why let it go to waste?”

And what of Handler’s affinity to country blues? “It’s what I was listening to in the early- to mid-1960’s along with Texas style, Mississippi delta, Chicago style, so that’s what I learned to play. I was inspired by Lightin’ Hopkins, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Mance Lipscomb, then Dave van Ronk, Tom Rush, Bob Dylan, folk festivals and hootenannys, Monterey Folk Festival, Monterey Pop Festival . . . . I had a lot of influences.” He adds, “I’m glad to be in a band that respects that tradition.”

Blues For Too Long’s title songrejoices: “So to these blue notes, I say goodbye. You had me down, well you sure didn’t have me tied. I’m going to leave here with a happy song, yeah ‘cause I’ve had those blues for too long.” No doubt, listeners will find in Blues For Too Long the happy songs they’re longing for.

Virgin America Airline Appoints New VP of Marketing

Calvert will take the place of Porter Gale who left Virgin earlier in 2011 to pursue other opportunities.

Calvert will lead the airline’s Brand and Online Marketing, In-flight Content and Loyalty teams.

She will play a leading role in developing the Virgin America brand as the airline continues to grow into new markets across North America.

Calvert comes to Virgin America with an impressive array of successful companies as a leading digital marketing strategist and online consultant with Louis Vuitton Moet Hennessy’s (LVMH) Fendi and Moleskine brands in Italy as well as Calvin Klein Cosmetics, Netflix and Ebay. Calvert served as creative director at Google, where she managed the brand globally and developed campaigns to bring Google products directly to consumer and business audiences — including Google Checkout, Google Apps, iGoogle and Google Maps.

Virgin America, known for its use of social media and edgy marketing campaigns, has been successful at conveying the idea that the company provides an entertaining and comfortable way to travel.

Calvert said her approach to marketing and advertising steers away from use of traditional vehicles like TV and billboard advertising. She prefers using other avenues – like social media or events – to draw in customers.

The airline, based in Burlingame, flies to 14 cities, increasing to 16 by the end of the year. The company said sales grew to $724 million last year, a 32 percent improvement over 2009.

Virgin America is planning the first major renovation of its in-flight offerings. The move holds big implications for the airline, which has attracted a strong following among travelers who say they are drawn to amenities like power plugs at every seat, a wide array of video games and even techno music in the bathrooms.

Travelers won’t see the changes until 2012, executives said. We wish Ms. Calvert the best of success for her and Virgin America in the coming years!

DREAMFORCE OPENS In SAN FRANCICO ON AUGUST 30

METALLICA To Play 1st Corporate Gig at Gala Party

Here’s some great activities to add onto your Dreamforce Schdule beginning on Tuesday, August 30th, 20ll at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. Don’t know what Dreamforce is and you are in Business? Oh my, well you need to read on to find out what all of the excitement is about and visit the Dreamforce Website for more information.

Salesforce, the San Francisco based cloud-computing company, is hosting its annual Dreamforce Conference and Expo from Tuesday August 30th to Friday September 2nd at Moscone Center. The conference will play host to a plethora of companies surrounding the Cloud, Social Networking and Business arenas, along with a host of leaders in cloud computing – and, yes, Metallica will be playing its first corporate gig ever – giving them an opportunity to talk about the industry’s future. More than 42,000 people have registered to attend this record breaking event.

Salesforce, traditionally makes various announcements and launches new products and acquisitions at Dreamforce, is expected to make a lot of noise about its fairly new application, Chatter. It will focus on the year-old social-networking application for businesses, which Salesforce began to offer just last year. The company claims it is being used by more than 100,000 businesses. Event City™ will soon launch it’s own Chatter on the Event City Network™ to hopefully partner with the company to reach out and create a channel for the Events & Creative Industries.

Who said work couldn’t be fun, too? One of the most important and relevant reasons for attending Dreamforce is the ability to network. It is one of the strongest mainstream, corporate conventions that offers the business person many great networking opportunities. We hope you are ready to network, dine, toast, and make new contacts? Be sure to bring along your business cards for the scores of fantastic networking activities they’ve got in store for you at Dreamforce!

Here is just a few of the Dreamforce opportunities and events:

The Dreamforce App with Chatter
Start connecting before the conference even begins with the Dreamforce App! Use Chatter to choose sessions, plan meet-ups, and share your thoughts on the cloud computing event of the year!

Community Conference
Start your Dreamforce experience with a little inspiration! The Community Conference offers dozens of great ways to network, connect, and find the answers you need—whether you’re an active community member or a certified newbie.

ICMI at Dreamforce 2011
Learn from the leaders in enterprise contact center strategies at Dreamforce 2011. Join the International Customer Management Institute (ICMI), customer service leaders and peers, and our own Service Cloud experts to get the scoop on the latest trends, technologies, and best practices.

Welcome Reception
Kick off the evening entertainment at the energy-filled Welcome Reception on Tuesday, August 30. Mingle with salesforce.com employees and watch live demonstrations of partner solutions . . . With cocktails and hors d’oeuvres, of course!

Birds-of-a-feather lunch (by role)
Administrators, sales, marketing, service, and IT executives—you all have unique needs and challenges when it comes to using Salesforce. Tap into the power of the community with roundtable lunches by role.

Birds-of-a-feather lunch (by vertical)
Are you facing a challenge that only those in your vertical can help you solve? Don’t miss out on these roundtable lunches by industry.

Meet the experts in the Developer Lounge
Throughout Dreamforce, you’ll have the opportunity to meet the experts who build our award-winning applications and platform.

Global Gala
Wednesday’s Global Gala is our chance to celebrate you, so grab those dancing shoes and get your groove on with 30,000 of your closest Salesforce buddies! It’s sure to be a memorable evening of food, friends, and fun. Oh by the way did we mention it is an evening with METALLICA?!!

Salesforce.com Foundation events
Forge lasting relationships with your Salesforce peers while giving back at the Salesforce.com Foundation volunteer centers. Various projects supporting different organizations take place throughout the conference.

Come one come all to the fabulous Dreamforce Conference and Expo at Moscone Center in San Francisco. For more details and to receive your FREE Registration Pass visit the DREAMFORCE WEBSITE now.